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I've been up there a couple of times now trying to make the pennies stretch a bit further but it seems that unless you know what you're doing it's going to be a bit hit and miss..
What's good?
Give us your top Lidl hot tips 🙂
(we eat anything but tend towards fresh veg, wholefoods and wine and don't mind some decadent grub too)
Innis & Gunn? I'm not a fan myself, but many are.
Their fresh fruit and vegetables are brilliant at ours. The bakery is jolly good too.
There deluxe range is excellent, they are seriously competitve on fruit and veg pricing and their milk is 74p for 2 litres compared to tesco at £1.
I also treat it like a foreign holiday and try and buy one item I have never tried it's led to some interesting taste sensations.
Hang on, I'll just instruct Caruthers to go and quiz the oiks on [i]the[/i]* estate
*ergo not [i]my[/i] estate.
Cheese. Apparently. The cheap stuffed pasta is to be avoided at all costs.
They have a decent range of dark chocolate.
Also Woodgate Golden Haze cloudy cider, actually made by Westons, rather nice.
Fruit and veg is excellent value. Bodum belgium beer is good.
Most of their meat is free range.
Last october and november i ate large quantities of mini stollen and chocolate gingerbread and put on about 2kg. Most of their stuff you cant go far wrong. They also do quite alot of looky likey products which are often just as good as the originals.
Crusty white bloomer, muesli, crayfish and fillet steak all good.
It's not really worth cycling up Salterton Road- just stop off at Tesco and buy the offers 🙂
Most stuff is good, the cold meats, the bakery stuff is lovely, and as has been said if you get the deluxe range of stuff I haven't had a bad thing yet (pies were average but not bad). I avoid their frozen peas, crisps but get Walkers from there anyway) and avoid their peanuts I find them rock hard and not a patch on KP. Watch for short dates and I've stopped buying my milk from their as I find it spoils and the cartons stink with a couple of days but that could just be our local where their hygiene standards/fridges may not be cool enough.
Shopping anywhere else you realise how expensive the likes of Tesco are!
As a general rule:
Ingredients = good
Ready meal type stuff = bad
Anything involving marzipan = amazing
Any meat/cheese/sausage that has a German sounding name is generally pretty good.
Also agree on the marzipan rule mentioned by Shermer75!
Lidl pickled gherkins are the best
You can also spend the money you save on their special aisle, the quality of their offers is debatable, though the sledge hammer and axe I bought a while back are doing the job.
Weetabix is too dense you need to add way more milk otherwise its like chewing on sawdust...
Fish pie is great. I think its called 3 fish roast?
Lidl is pretty good overall. The things I actively seek out there:
Nuts. They have the best selection, quality and price of any of the supermarkets.
Dark chocolate
The ground coffee in gold packets. Pretty decent and cheap when it's on offer.
Their wine is generally excellent.
Hmm...you're not going to save money in [b]any[/b] supermarket by going in without a clear idea of what you want!
Do your weekly menu plan, then go to your chosen tier of retail establishment and buy only what you need. You'll be quids in! Allow a few quid for trying new stuff if you want.
70% cocoa dark chocolate with raspberry (or orange)
As been said above choose carefully, manage your expectations, and you'll be ok.
A lot of the food is cheap for a very good reason...
Do your weekly menu plan, then go to your chosen tier of retail establishment and buy only what you need. You'll be quids in! Allow a few quid for trying new stuff if you want.
You could put it on a spreadsheet along with prices and see where you're saving and losing out. As time goes on, you'll start to recognise trends and be able to [b]save[/b] even more money.
found some plum porter there a few months back, it was lovely but never found any since :-/
The waffle biscuit things 😀
Soft goats cheese.
Houmous ok too.
Vag pretty good too but may not last quite as long as other places
Vag pretty good too but may not last quite as long as other places
In before the edit. 😛
The salad that has a clump of earth on the bottom (not the one in the black tray though, that's not as good) bloody brilliant!
I'm also partial to the smoked chedder, other flavours are available.
The jar crammed with feta, olives and olive oil is good for a few salads.
The jars of their own brand jalfrezi sauce are good, piri piri sauce is very good and less than a quid, tiger loaves are lovely.
If you make bread the white bread flour is excellent for the dough it costs.
(no it really is!!)
[i]Ready meal type stuff = bad[/i]
Except the lasagne is great.
My faves apart from stuff already mentioned, are
the Herold Czech Black Lager (none in stock today 🙁 )
Frozen fish - the river cobbler (had that today) or the lemon sole
Cold meats been mentioned
Fruit Granola
Sirloin steaks
chicken breast and sirloin steak is very good.
That'll be the tricolour salad and not the living salad then 😉
Personally I like 40p porridge oats, weetabix that are made in the same factory as the brand. All the bakery, normal thick wholemeal bread is 45p, milk as mentioned is 74p. The first 4 fruit and veg items on the endcap of the fruit and veg are always on offer and usually cheaper than anywhere else. Usually 29p.
Chilled meats are a ton cheaper than Tesco or asda. Also try the deluxe new York cheesecake.
Basically you can buy your basics 20-30% cheaper than you normally would. Oh and there's Hawaiian pizzas in the freezer for 75p
Don't buy much from there except except a monthly trip to buy:
Passata in the cartons. It's better or as good as the posh stuff in supermarkets and very cheap
Parmesan.
Panettone. Cheap as chips and again way better than some of the really expensive stuff from deli's.
Coffee pods for Nespresso are OK and well priced compared to others
Ground coffee is average
Looky-likey biscuits decent
Pate and brie alright as staples rather than treats
Fireworks are ace
Weetabix is mank
10 quid wine is good
'High-end' washing up liquid works well (silver bottle)
Random middle-aisle stuff is enlightening
Bakery doughnuts are proper-nom
Bakery veggie pizza slices are good for an urgent snack
Free range organic whole chickens are good
Must try some of the luxury stuff
Love Lidl me
Oh I forgot, they're doing a special on crowbars at the moment, one 60 cm and one 90cm, both in red for a tenner. I will NOT be using them to smash up pallets whilst pretending to be Gordon Freeman.
And the washing powder.
😳 for earlier post 😳
Nuts and dried fruits are good,
free range british chickens reasonably cheap too,
Ground coffee reasonable too (posher one)
wine, cereals, muesli, olive oil, bread flour, fruit, veg, serrano ham, cheese, tinned toms with chilies, olives, waffles, wine
oh nesspresso capsules not bad either
for those not liking the lidl weetabix.....
....tesco got oatibix at half price at the moment! my favourite! food of the gods mixed with unflavoured protein shake and left to go soggy. nomnomom. cleared the shelves out at local store 3 times now so far.
*cough* kitchen cupboard *cough*
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Are you folk able to get parked in these stores? I've kinda given up on Aldi due to little car parks and a refusal to queue.
[i]Are you folk able to get parked in these stores?[/i]
I can usually park right out the front of my Lidl SHOP. 🙂
Ours has loads of spaces but I always walk to them as they're nearby.
Get with the branding Dez! 😉
Full fat yoghurts
Slices of funny Euro-cheese with the holes in.
Giant Yorkshire puddings
Never!
Oh, the Greek yogurts (4 in a pack) are nice too.
Love their luxury fruit and nut muesli
It actually looks like the picture on the bag and isn't just dust.
Luxury stucky toffee pudding is nice too.
Amongst many other things mentioned, we have a thing for their frozen croquettes 😳
Saw somebody chucking near enough a whole leg of that LIDL serrano ham at the tip the other day. Were they £100? Must have been £75 worth left- mouldy as **** in his defence.
The Lidl deluxe jam is good 75% fruit.
Hang on, I'll just instruct Caruthers to go and quiz the oiks on the* estate
You rang m'lud?
the muesli is good - but check out the sugar content
Risotto rice,£1.80 a kilo. As others have said, veg really good value,occasional specials, pasta,fresh meat, booze, can virtually do a weeks shop there.
I know in malvern link there are more waitrose bags in Lidl's than there are in waitrose.
What about dried pulses, do they have decent bags of lentils etc.?
[i]we have a thing for their frozen croquettes[/i]
Ooh, the jalapeno and cheese ones! Lovely 🙂
What about dried pulses, do they have decent bags of lentils etc.?
They have red lentils, and split peas, and broth mix I think. I've not seen any other dried beans, at least in my local Lidl. Also have tinned kidney beans, they are fine, cheap enough.
Luxury stucky toffee pudding is nice too.
it is, they do a gooey chocolate thing in the same range which very nice too. Also the "proper" OJ is fabulous for the money, if you can get it, they sell by the crate here 😯
The trouble with Lidl and Aldi is that any savings I make on the shopping get offset by my inability to stop buying stuff like digital vernier calipers and sets of o rings.
The missus sent me to our local Lidl yesterday for cereals ( our kids are addicted to the Choco Shells) and I ended up coming back with 3 boxes of cereal and a pillar drill........
The random selection of stuff in the middle of the shop are called "magic beans"
Their new 'own brand' ales are really nice.
The choc cornettos are great too.
And they often do 2 baguettes for a quid, which are a cut above the other supermarket versions.
Interesting to see the comments on their Fruit & Veg. Round here the quality of F&V at Lidl is awful.
I tend to prefer Aldi for pretty much everything. Their Weetabix is definitely better!
Weetabix is gross. Not just Lidl, all of it.
Nobeerinthefridge - MemberWeetabix is gross. Not just Lidl, all of it.
+1000 the smell is rank & working in a flour mill it just reminds me of compressed wheatfeed, the waste product we send to feed mills for bulking up animal feed.
As a general rule:Ingredients = good
Ready meal type stuff = bad
Anything involving marzipan = amazing
Pretty much spot on.
Although I do like the stuff pasta and I find the wine a bit hit and miss.
As far as I can tell, they tend to do only one big restock at the start of the day, so sometimes the shelves are a bit bare come 8pm.
Ready meal type stuff = badExcept the lasagne is great.
Their new 'own brand' ales are really nice.
+1
Lidl used to be bad for bread, and bad for fruit and veg - they've sorted that out and I find it really good for both now. Always been good for cold meats, continental type cheeses, really cheap for beans, tomatoes etc - decent wine. The 'deluxe' filled pasta is really good. Habanero flavoured almonds, mmmm.....
+1 on the stroepwaffles and plain chocolate, especially eaten together
Mmmmmm
Protein rolls, oatcakes, muesli, fresh fruit & veg, nuts, cheese, cured meats. Some of the own brand ales are pretty good as well.
My mum shops there.
The chocolate spread is horrible, nothing like as good as Nutella
The ketchup is nothing like as good as Heinz
The crunchy oat cereal is nothing like as good as Jordan's
Those that like the Lidl stuffed pasta should try the Giovanni Rana stuff, always cheap at Iceland and way way better.
Those that like the Lidl stuffed pasta should try the Giovanni Rana stuff
That is also very nice - Iceland though...
I've kinda given up on Aldi due to little car parks and a refusal to queue.
Maybe you've moved, but the Aldi in Blackwater always has loads of car park spaces 😀
The little snack packs of crayfish tails are excellent, only about 99p and really fresh tasting.
The mens aftershave stuff is exactly the same as Hugo Boss, and the womens perfume thing is exactly the same as Coco Mademoiselle. I saw it on a TV show about 4 years ago and it was the reason I first went there. They are £4 each instead of £30-40 for the real thing, and I repeat are EXACTLY THE SAME.
Once they were on sale for £2
Other than that,
Stroopwaffles
Stolen
Cheddar
Fromage Frais yoghurts for the kids
Imitation hula hoops and skips
Bread
All the Veg
I want to say schnitzels, but I think they are just at Aldi
Stolen
Cheddar
If you steal the cheddar it's the same price everywhere!! 😀
The Onken cherry yog for 99p/pot that they have in this week is nice with the luxury fruit and nut muesli (blue bag) for brekkies BTW.
Cepa Lebrel Rioja Reserva 2010 Is my default red wine. The bakery is great. We love their fresh cookies at work and the new pain aux raisin are as good as Waitrose. Their mozzarella is much better than the bland stuff sold by most other supermarkets too.
The Low GI instore baked loaf is awesome. I don't give a monkeys about the GI bit - its simply the nicest bread around.
Also the french speciality cheese when on half price is a total steal.
Fruit & veg - choice of 'exotics' gets better all the time
Pastries are brill
Dried fruit & nuts
Olive oils
Tinned goods - chopped toms/ pulses etc
Deluxe crisps
Unsalted butter
Massive pots of Greek yoghurt
Continental cheeses - all sorts
Own brand mayo/ ketchup
Foil/ kitchen cleaning stuff/ washing liquids etc
The specials e.g Greek week when you can get massive tubs of feta or Italian when they do huge pasta varieties are fab
Can buy a trolly load of stuff in Lidl & then spend exactly the same amount in Waitrose for stuff that all fits in one basket...oops